Looking for advice before buying a new printer.

[DMLinux]

A new ISP and their new router has forced me to replace a nearly antique but still functional printer. Printers have always been my biggest pet peeve with Linux. I have a Brother laser printer that supports only 802.11a, which is not available with AT&T's Fiber router. I also have an HP MFC that requires ridiculously expensive inc cartridges. I would like to kill two stones with one bird and get rid of both. The HP, if I remember correctly when I first installed MX, worked correctly without having to install a driver. I'm hoping to be able to have that same happy experience this time, but I will not be buying an HP. Their ink refills are extremely over priced, and I have heard many complaints about HP printers being bricked by installing less expensive ink from 3rd party manufacturers. I am wondering what experiences people have had with Canon's PIXMA G7020 MFC https://www.usa.canon.com/support/p/pixma-g7020 or similar models, which uses bottled ink instead of more expensive cartridges. Canon does offer both .deb and .rpm drivers for this printer, and the printer also is supposed to function driver-less, I assume, similar to my HP. If these "tank" printers live up to their hype, they should be very economical similar to monochrome laser printers.

After reading this thread viewtopic.php?p=783041#p783041 I looked for the Epson printer mentioned there, and can't find it locally, either in stock or available to order. I like to support local stores, even the big box stores, because that puts money in the pockets of local people. If the Canon printers do not work well with Linux, maybe I will try to find this Epson online.

A second question, can someone please try to explain to me in plain English how these "driver-less" printers work, and what, if anything, is different in the day-to-day use of driver-less printers. I looked at three links on the Debian Wiki that seemed to be written by or for people with coding experience.

Thank you for your help!
DaveM

[Alby]

Hi .. just like you I was a little confused ... hey ho go to .. MX tools . package installer ..printing .. HP printing is available and indeed drivers and package can be installed effortlessly for HP printers that do work amazingly fine .. by using this method .. I have done it ...well pleased ... but then its a HP printer .. I bought a HP envy 6000 series
wifi enabled ..it is real good ...check it out m8tey

[j2mcgreg]

@DMLinux wrote:

After reading this thread viewtopic.php?p=783041#p783041 I looked for the Epson printer mentioned there, and can't find it locally, either in stock or available to order. I like to support local stores, even the big box stores, because that puts money in the pockets of local people. If the Canon printers do not work well with Linux, maybe I will try to find this Epson online.

That Epson is $270.00 at Staples:
https://www.staples.com/Epson-printers/ ... 7883/005xp

[txm0523]

I have a Samsung ML-2165w laser printer for many years. When it came out. very few Linux distro's had a driver for that printer. I used a different distro several years ago and I requested they add the driver to their list. Was met with hostility and no help. For the most part, Linux distro's have a driver available in their system, but brand new printers might have trouble working because of no available driver yet. Sometimes when I peruse the stores, I look at boxes because some will say " works with Linux " . IMHO, if you want to get a new printer maybe get one that is one to two years old, that way a driver should be available in their distro. If a brand new one is what you want, you can do a search for Linux OS compatible printers. That should help. I do know that when my current printer gives up the ghost, I will be doing an internet search to see which one actually works.

[FullScale4Me]

Laser

For a Laser printer the cost per print *depends* on brand. HP and Canon have the annealing drum as a part of their toner cartridges making them more expensive.

Brother has them separate with a life of approximately 13,000 prints on my printer. Toner for Brother is MUCH cheaper per print. In store, Big Box retailers will price-match Amazon.

Ink Tank

Epson has been in the Ink Tank market the longest. Current printers are several generations beyond their initial offering. HP and Canon Ink Tank printers were much later to retail.

Ink Jet

HP raises per-cartridge prices as a printer gets older. For a several-year-old printer (>7 years) a 4-pack (black & 3 colors) costs close to what your printer was purchased for. HP has priced itself above all others. I only recommend them for HP Loyalists who can't see buying anything else!

Canon ink cartridges are more affordable than HP but are still more $$ per print than Brother and Epson. The high-capacity version is more cost-effective $$ per print.

Brother cartridges are generally the cheapest and a few are offered in high-capacity. Some retailers no longer carry the 1X cartridges and only stock the 2X and 3X ones.

I retired from a big-box printer retailer in 2022.

[ghunter]

Hi

I own a HP and a Canon both need drivers so I am not the best to explain driverless. But check if any of the driverless printers mentioned here, are laser or not

https://www.pwg.org/printers/
and if you have time have a gander at
https://github.com/apple/cups/wiki/IPP- ... i-Tutorial

[figueroa]

1. Get a printer that supports IPP Everwhere driverless printing: https://openprinting.github.io/printers/

2 From this page, find a compatible printer: https://openprinting.org/printers?action=searchall

3.Get a printer downwardly compatible with what you find in #2 above, in particular one that supports PostScript or PCL.

Note 0: Do your on-line research -- there is no free lunch. The newer the printer, the less likely it will be well supported by Linux.
Note 1: Consider the cost of supplies; ink and/or toner.
Note 2: The HP Instant Ink program is reasonably priced for the HP printers and locations that are supported. https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/v2
Note 3: Old but good condition workhorse printers that are known to be compatible, i.e. my HP Laserjet 3055, delivers extremely low cost prints and compatible toner cartridges are dirt cheap.